tuque /tūk/ n Canadian English, var. toque[19th c. Canadian French, from the French toque, from the Basque tauka] 1 A close-fitting knitted cap, often with a long tapering end or tassel or pompom. 2 fig Something quintessentially Canadian.

souq/sūk/ n from the Arabic سوقvar. souk 1 An open-air marketplace. 2fig A central meeting place for the circulation of news and ideas.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Canada Quote: "The not-un-Americans"

"It often feels that Canada isn't treated as a nation so much as a totem, a moral barometer for western liberals elsewhere. Another mutually reinforcing binary: the not-Americans; the good-guys."-Heather McRobie, The Guardian (London, UK)

"You might think of Canada as the un-America, where the only debate ought to be whether to spend the country's growing oil wealth on faster snowmobiles, bigger hockey rinks, or Anne Murray box sets. But beneath the calm exterior, Canada's political system is in turmoil."-Chris Flavelle (a Canadian), Slate.com (USA)